NE NEWS SERVICE
PUDUCHERRY, JUNE 15
The Goubert market, known also as the Big Market, is to be shifted on June 17 from Jawaharlal Nehru street in the heart of the town to the sprawling Anglo-French Textile Mill ground on the Puducherry-Mudaliarpet road.
The shifting is to ensure no further spread of COVID- 19, said the district collector T Arun in a press release on Monday.
The administration detected lax adherence to the virus- induced lockdown norms – wearing of masks, sanitation and social distancing – in the present location of the market, the collector said.
To see to it that the people are protected against any attack of the infection, the territorial government decided to move the market, he said. The wholesale and retail outlets of vegetables would be shifted to the new venue with necessary adherence to the norms.
The Big market was first shifted to the new bus terminal at Orleanpet after the lockdown was declared in March. The market was brought back to the old venue after easing of curbs on June 17. The total number of virus cases in the Union Territory crossed 200 on Monday and the active cases were 103 which have caused serious concern.
Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and the Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao have been saying people should bear the responsibility of preventing the spread of the virus.
The Chief Minister had said the government would intensify measures in the next few days if there was no improvement on the part of the people in following the norms.
Meanwhile, leaders of different outfits such as Dravidar Kazhagam, Federation of People’s Rights and Meenavar Viduthalai Vengaigal appealed to the administration to impose total lockdown in Puducherry as the pandemic was spreading alarmingly on Monday.
